Bristol, WI – June 4, 2013. Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports team had a triple-header weekend planned this past weekend, but it quickly turned into a double-header as Friday night’s event at the St. Croix Valley Raceway in St. Croix Falls, WI was cancelled due to impending inclement weather that was coming into the area on Friday night.
Saturday’s forecast didn’t look much better, but the powers that be with the Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI and the Interstate Racing Association deciding to give it a go and it turned out to be a cold, but rewarding night for the 17B sprint car. Qualifying was scratched due to the chance of rain in the area and the fact that the sprint car portion of the show was not the main feature of the night. Bill would line up in the 3rd starting position of the heat and at the drop of the green quickly made his way into the lead and ran away from the field winning the heat race by a half lap and lapping up to the 4th position. Bill would start in the 3rd position again in the feature. At the drop of the green Bill would trail Scotty Neitzel for two laps before making his way into the lead. A few laps later a car would spin in turn four nearly collecting the 17B sprinter, but Bill maneuvered his way around machine that was sideways in the track to hold onto the lead. Once the green was out, Bill ran away from the field again like in his heat race, lapping up to the 5th place competitor and easily picked up the Triple Crown event and his 3rd victory of the 2013 season over Illinois invader Jim Moughan and Minnesota driver Travis Whitney.
The weather was much more favorable on Sunday as Bill and the B2 Motorsports team headed an hour east to the Eagle Valley Speedway in Jim Falls, WI. Bill would lay down the 3rd fastest qualifying lap lining him up with a 6th place starting position in the 3rd heat race. At the drop of the green, Bill would fall back out of a transfer position, but soon would make his way forward into the 3rd position. Bill would put a slide job on the #7 of Scott Uttech just past the half way mark with Uttech sliding Bill back on the other end of the track. At that point, Bill got a bad vibration in the car and rode out a 3rd place finish to transfer into the feature. After checking over the car and finding no problems, Bill would push off for the feature lining up in the 4th starting position after the fast qualifier drew the #3 pill for the invert. At the drop of the green flag Bill would ride in the 4th position trying to find the preferred line around the high banked oval and soon seemed to find what his was looking for. He would make his way into the 3rd position past “Wild Bill” Wirth and few laps in and soon stalk the 2W of Scotty Neitzel. A few laps later Bill would size up Nietzel and make his way under him through turns three and four now chasing down leader Brooke Tatnell who had a sizable lead while Bill and Neitzel had battled. Bill began reeling in Tatnell and caught him around Lap 20 sticking tight to his back bumper or challenging him lap after lap as the pair maneuvered through the thick lap traffic. Bill and Tatnell were racing side by side when the lone caution flag flew on lap 27 of the scheduled 30 laps. On the restart Tatnell would go low to block any slide job that Bill could put on him, but that left the door wide open on the top as Bill powered his way around Tatnell coming out of turn two and would run away the final lap and a half to his 3rd victory in a row at Eagle Valley Speedway and 4th win of the 2013 season.
This week, the 17B sprint car and driver Bill Balog will head to Burlington, Iowa’s 34 Raceway for a date with the World of Outlaws on Friday, June 7th. The following night, Saturday, June 8th the team plans to travel to the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA for a weekly show. If the weather is iffy the team may opt to head back close to home and run at the Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI with the Interstate Racing Association. Please check our Facebook page for any changes to our Saturday schedule or any weekend by going to http://www.facebook.com/bsquaredmotorsports. Results throughout the night are also posted on our Facebook page provided there is service at the track. Also remember to check out Bill Balog and the B2 Motorsports Team by visiting www.billbalog.com for driver and crew bios, our schedule, pictures, videos, and to sign our guestbook if you’d like to.
B2 Motorsports is also continuing the search for marketing partners for the 2013 season. Anyone interested can contact Bill at balogb17@yahoo.com or Matt at littlekw022@gmail.com.
Bill and the B2 Motorsports Team would also like to thank our continued supporters/sponsors including: Buesser Concrete, Maxim Chassis, Hepfner Racing Products, Xtreme Stainless, Gleason Equipment, Super Shox, K&N Filters, FK Rod Ends, Auto Meter, Weld Wheels, Saldana Racing Products, Astro Titanium, DMI, Fibrestar Industries, Stumble Inn Bar and Grill, Allstar Performance, Competition Driveline Service, BLZ, XYZ Machining, Outerwears, and Champion Oil.
- Matt Myers on Jun 04, 2013
- Article Date: 6/4/2013 by Matt Myers